E-mail (or email) systems typically comprise server-based mail applications or programs configured to manage the exchange of file-based data items over one or more networks, including mentioning the exchange of electronic mail correspondence and documents between various users. E-mail systems offer simple but robust communication capabilities, facilitating the exchange of present and past (historic) e-mail communications between an almost unlimited plurality of senders and receivers, commonly including options that allow users to resend earlier communications to additional recipients as needed.
In one aspect, e-mail applications offer productivity advantages in work group scenarios, such as is common within corporate and organizational settings. E-mail recipients may be easily grouped into predefined or even dynamically defined workgroups, wherein e-mails on a given topic or subject may be batch e-mailed or forwarded to everybody in the group as needed, thus easily assuring that all members within a given group may receive documents and other e-mails intended to be commonly shared by members of the group. Moreover, batch e-mailing also may ensure that an e-mail reaches a target member of a given group: if the identity of the number is uncertain (for example, the recipient may be a task-based recipient and the sender may not know who is responsible for the given task), then e-mailing all members of the group will ensure that the target is reached.
Problems arise in adding a new member to an e-mail workgroup or other corporate entity and efficiently bringing that new member current with respect to prior e-mails and correspondences. For example, with respect to an extant group with incomplete or revised member identification, early and other previously-sent e-mails and information passed along via email is missed by individuals added to the group in later stages or revisions. Under prior art e-mail systems, upon addition of a new member to a group previous emails each have to be selected and forwarded to the new members, and other important information previously sent will not be known or shared with the new member unless this information is maintained separately for subsequent transmittal to any future newly-added members, which may be tedious, time-consuming and an inefficient use of corporate resources.
Thus, there is a need for improved methods and systems that address the above problems, as well as others.